


Heritage

by GemmaRose



Series: Fucked Up Family AU [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Background Allura/Romelle - Freeform, Druids, Fear, Fights, Galra Lance (Voltron), Gen, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Illusions, Magic, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protectiveness, Rescue Missions, Siblings, Team as Family, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-05 04:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18358202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: Lance hasn’t spent more than a few minutes at a time unglamoured in the past eight years. Without his mom around to refresh it though, the clock is ticking. And if his friends knew what he looked like,whohe looked like... it could jeopardize Voltron as a whole.Written as part of thePrimary Big Bangon tumblr, with art by the incredibleKaylee(warning, Major Spoilers for chapter 7)





	1. Chapter 1

“’Lura, I _need_ this.” Lance grabbed her arm as she turned away, and felt his claws flex against the inside of his flight suit. “I’ve never gone this long without a fresh glamour, it could give out any quintant now.”

“Do you want me to rush it and get it wrong?” Allura asked sharply, but she didn’t pull her arm free. “I need time to research the spell.”

“Can’t you just top off what’s already there?” Lance wheedled, dropping her arm and bringing his hand close to his chest, forcing his claws to retract. “I’d do it myself, but-”

“ _Absolutely_ not.” Allura shifted slightly, growing until she was nearly half a head taller than him. “You’ve barely healed from the last time you opened your core. I’ll not have you risking your life for something so frivolous.”

Lance swallowed a growl and settled for glaring at Allura instead. “So you do it. Just put some extra quintessence in and keep me looking like _me_ for another movement or two.”

“I don’t know if I can.” Allura admitted with a sigh, shrinking down to her normal height. “Your mother’s magic is different enough from my own that they may not be compatible, and a poor reaction could _kill you_.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“Well I’m not.” Allura frowned at him. “Lance, you promised me you would tell the others. Why not tell them now? You know they won’t care that you’re half galra.”

Lance couldn’t stop the distressed whine that slipped from his throat, suddenly keenly aware of the feeling of his helmet against his cranial plates through the glamour of his hair. “’Lura, you remember what I look like under this right?” he gestured at his face under his helmet. “You saw my scans when I was in the cryo-pod. Keith’s mom looks so close to human all she needs is some makeup and contacts to pass. Keith and Hunk both look completely human, so long as Hunk’s got his contacts in. I _don’t_ look human.”

Allura winced. “That’s true, but-”

“Without this glamour I look more like him than ever, ‘Lura.” he said gravely, though it had been so long since he let Mom actually drop his glamour that he could only guess that was the case. “Imagine how the others would react to seeing _that_.”

“I’m sure they would-”

“Understand?” Lance laughed bitterly. “I doubt it.” he’d stopped letting Mom drop his glamour over break for a reason, after all. Sure most of his family didn’t look human, but most of his family weren’t the spitting image of the reason Mom had fled to Earth with them all in the first place. If someone who looked like him had shown up at his family’s home back on Earth, well, he would’ve sooner killed them than listen to anything they said.

“You don’t give these humans enough credit, Lance.” Allura frowned.

“Just, a movement. I promise I’ll tell them at dinner, but I need-” a blare of noise and flash of red light made him tense, and Allura’s exasperated concern faded into a mask of grim determination.

“We’ll discuss this later.” she said, and turned on her heel to stride off with all the authority a princess should have. “Coran, what’s this alert?” her shoulders tensed at whatever answer she received, and she tapped the side of her helmet. “Paladins, to your Lions.” her voice came over the castle’s speakers, creating a strange echo effect for Lance since he was standing close enough to hear the words straight from her mouth. “We’ve received a distress signal. You’ll get a full brief once we’re en-route.” she tapped her helmet again and looked over her shoulder at Lance. “Be careful out there.”

“I will.” he promised, and turned to head to Blue’s hangar. At least distress calls usually involved enough combat to keep his mind off of this impending disaster for a varga or two.

\---

“As you are aware, we are responding to a distress beacon.” Coran’s voice came smooth over the speakers, and Lance had to force himself not to dismiss the old altean’s words. He was altean, and he was old and weird, but despite his species he was really quite smart. Just like Allura, which was still a strange thought even phoebs after the discovery. Lance shook his head and drew his attention back to the conversation at hand. Shiro was- reprimanding someone? Probably Keith.

“Anyways.” Allura said firmly once Shiro fell silent. “The ziirans have called for aid because the galra are attempting to extort their cooperation by abducting and threatening the children of their leaders.”

Lance had to mute his mic to keep the growl that rumbled up out of his chest from reaching his teammates. He knew the Empire was too rotten for Lotor to possibly change it in such a short time, but still, abducting kits? That was a new low.

Hunk, however, had no such reservations. “That’s just wrong.” he exclaimed, sounding appropriately scandalised.

“Agreed.” Allura said darkly. “Which is why as soon as we’ve finished the teludav jump Coran is going to scan for non-galran life forms on whatever ships there are in the area. You will board this ship, rescue the children, and we will ask the ziiran nations to unite as one under the banner of our coalition.”

“After we give the kids back, right?” Pidge asked, and Lance rolled his eyes as he unmuted his mic.

“Of course, Pidge. We’re trying to be better than the Empire, remember?”

“I remember just fine.” Pidge huffed. “I was just making sure _Allura_ remembered. Since, y’know, she’s got no problem dating a druid.”

“Druid apprentice, just like Allura was.” Romelle corrected, and Lance could picture her standing just next to the little dais with the teludav control columns on it, looking all creepy with those elongated altean marks and heavy grey cloak.

“Well we could hardly land for negotiations and _not_ send the children back to their families.” Allura sounded vaguely offended, and for all that Lance wanted to side with Allura... Pidge did kinda have a point. Romelle hadn’t been aboard long enough for him to trust her yet, even though she reminded him of his mom.

“We’re here!” Coran said brightly.

“Paladins, launch!” Shiro ordered, and Lance slammed Blue’s controls forward. This, at least, was simple. No interpersonal drama, no worrying about his glamour or Romelle’s influence on Allura, just him and Blue, them and their pack, their team, and however many enemies they were facing today.

“The children are on the middle battleship.” Coran’s voice came over the comms, and Lance had to bite back the urge to ask if the altean was sure. “Keith, you’re headed straight for them.”

“Got it.”

“Hunk, you back him up.” Shiro ordered. “Take down their weapons, but keep hull breaches to a minimum.”

“On it.” Hunk replied, and on his radar Lance saw Yellow veer over to join Red’s course.

“Pidge, Lance, you tackle that ship on the left.” Shiro said, calm and collected as ever. “I’ll keep the fighters off you while you scuttle it.”

“Is it even called scuttling if it’s in space?” Pidge asked as they both swung towards their target.

“Yes.” Shiro said confidently.

“Can confirm.” Lance chipped in with a smile. “If a transport to the colonies got jacked and reported on live, when it was wrecked the reporters would say pirates had scuttled it.”

“Huh. Learn something new every day.”

“Dude, your dad was an astronaut.” Hunk laughed, sounding absolutely carefree even as Lance could see Yellow engaging the battleship on his radar. “How did you not already know this?”

“Can we please focus on the mission?” Keith grumped, and Lance grinned as he twisted Blue around the first wave of fighters, flicking her tail cannon to take a few out.

“What, the big bad Red Paladin can’t multitask?” he teased, and Keith growled at him.

“Lance, don’t antagonise him.” Shiro chided. “And everyone, cut the chatter. Let’s make this quick and clean, and get those kids home.”

“Yes, sir!” Lance replied with the other Paladins. He sat up straighter and tightened his grip on Blue’s controls, flicking his mic to push-to-talk. “C’mon, girl. Let’s kick some Imperial butt.”


	2. Chapter 2

Lance whooped as he twisted the controls in his hands, leading Blue into a corkscrew turn that twisted the fighters tailing them into crashing together. “Three more down!”

“We don’t need a running commentary, Lance.” Keith snapped, and Lance rolled his eyes. Like Keith wasn’t counting kills under his breath as well.

“Focus, Paladins.” Shiro chided. “As soon as Hunk’s made us a hole, we rush this ship, board, and scatter to find the hostages. Unless you need someone to hang back and protect the castle, Allura?”

“Not today.” Allura’s voice came crisp and clear over the speakers. “If the situation changes, we’ll notify you.”

“Good.”

“Oh, and if anyone finds a data console that looks important, we all have those drives.” Pidge said. “It should handle the hacking for you, just set it on the console and download as much as possible.”

“Are we gonna buddy system this time?” Keith asked, and Lance could hear the thoughtful expression in Shiro’s brief silence.

“No.” he said after a moment. “But everyone should keep an eye on the others’ locations, and if you get into trouble don’t hesitate to call for backup.”

“Yes, Sir.” they chorused.

“We got a hole!” Hunk called a second later, and Lance pulled Blue in a tight turn to aim straight for the hole in the hull. Red beat him to the entrance, and as soon as Blue was in the process of settling on the floor Lance was on his feet. His helmet sealed to his flight suit almost at a thought, and he jumped out into the breached hangar as Green swooped in. It wasn’t really big enough for all the Lions together, but they’d make do. Anyways, the more important thing was finding the kits.

“I’ll take forward.” Keith said without preamble.

“Dibs on lower midships.” Hunk added.

“I’ll head aft.” Lance looked over his shoulder at Pidge and Shiro, jetting over from their Lions. “Upper midships or aft?” he called.

“Aft.” Shiro replied without hesitation.

“Guess that puts me on midships.”

“Cool, midship buddies!” Hunk slung an arm around Pidge’s shoulder.

“Remember, the hostages are our top priority.” Shiro’s gaze swept over them, and Lance found himself standing up straighter. “Data gathering is second. And avoid combat if possible, anyone on here after we leave is going to get a taste of the castle’s laser cannon. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Alright, break!” he made a sharp gesture with his hand, and they all streamed out the door.

“So what’s the plan if we find the kids?” Lance asked as they headed for the back of the ship, making a beeline for the holding cells. His helmet pinged up that the atmosphere was perfectly breathable, and he let it shift back out of zero-atmosphere mode. No sense using up his oxygen.

“We put them on an escape pod and tell them to aim for the castle.” Shiro responded smoothly. “Especially if there’s any injured.”

Labce nearly failed to swallow the distressed little noise in his throat at the thought of that. He knew full well how the Empire treated their prisoners, he’d been on the receiving end of it a few times since becoming a Paladin, but... these were just kits. Helpless children, not dangerous warriors. On the other side of the coin, though, there was the chance that the kits had been treated so well they wouldn’t want to leave. Which was honestly so laughably slim Lance only entertained the idea to give himself an excuse to think of the kits warm and comfortable and cared for. Best case scenario, they were unharmed and cooperative. Worst case... he didn’t want to think about the worst case scenario.

“How are we splitting this?” Shiro asked as they approached the holding cells.

“Port and starboard?” Lance suggested.

“Sounds good to me.” Shiro flashed him a small, tight smile. “We’ll meet back in the middle before moving on to the next floor.”

Lance nodded, and when they hit the holding cells he peeled off to the starboard side of the ship without a word. He took the halls at a brisk jog, eyes flicking from cell to cell to the little ship map on his HUD that showed the position of his teammates. Hunk and Pidge were just a few floors apart, and he and Shiro were pretty damn close together, but Keith’s little red dot was all alone up in the forward portion of the ship.

“Hunk, Pidge, I’m gonna start working my way back to midships.” Keith’s voice came through the speakers, and Lance relaxed slightly. “There’s nothing up front.”

“Got it.” Pidge said, very serious.  
“Midships party.” Hunk laughed, and Lance relaxed slightly. If Hunk of all people was able to laugh, they were facing little to no resistance.

“Hunk, focus.” Shiro chided, and Lance tuned out their conversation as he kept looking. Empty cell after empty cell, and not ta guard or sentry in sight. It would’ve been unnerving if it wasn’t so annoying.

“I found them.” Shiro’s voice cut through Lance’s thoughts, and he stopped as he straightened up. “Correction, I found _half_ of them. Lance, stand by for directions.”

“Standing by.” he flexed his fingers on his bayard, eyes flicking from side to side as he scanned the hallway.

“The kids say the rest were taken by a... riphor?” Shiro sounded confused, and Lance's blood ran cold.

“A druid.” he rasped, and coughed to clear his throat. “Their masks look like a bird called a riphor.”

“Alright, everyone buddy up.” Shiro ordered. “Lance, you go join the others, I’ll get these kids to an escape pod and meet you there.”

“Yes, Sir.” Lance nodded sharply, and did his best to swallow the unease edging on fear that was prickling down his spine, rising along the back of his throat. The kits would be fine, they had to be fine.

Keith cursed softly, and every hair on Lance’s body stood on end. “I found the kits.” he whispered. “The druid just brought them in with a ton of guards.”

“Keith, don’t do anything stupid.” Shiro warned, but Lance was already running.

“If you take out the guards it’s even odds the druid will run.” he said as he skidded around a corner.

“And less weapons on the kids.” Pidge added.

“Keith, do not-”

“I’m going for it.”

“Keith!” Shiro let out an impressive growl, and Lance picked up the pace, foregoing the limits of what a human could do to get to Keith as fast as physically possible. The halls seemed to blur by as he ran towards the little red dot in his HUD’s minimap, and he nearly crashed into Hunk and Pidge coming the other way before he could backpedal hard enough.

“This way!” Pidge gestured, and Lance nodded as he followed them up the stairs. The sounds of fighting behind the door were faint, and Lance levelled his gun at the door’s operation panel. A single shot reduced them to a smoking wreck, and the doors slid open to reveal more sentries and live guards than he’d seen in a single room since he’d been on the central command ship, one of them even wore the red armour of an officer.

“Engaging now, Shiro.” Hunk reported dutifully, and Lance levelled a shot at the head of the one in red armour. Xi ducked, snarled, and Keith came charging at xir with a war cry.

“I’ve got this one, Lance!” he insisted, and Lance targeted another soldier with his next shot. He went down, hard, and another one charged him with a roar. It was easy enough to dodge, and he fell easily into the forms he’d practiced daily for so much of his childhood. Dodge, doge, parry, strike. Sure he didn’t have a sword in his hands, but the barrel of his bayard was plenty solid enough to probably give the guard a concussion. At the very least, she dropped like a brick. Between himself, Pidge, and Hunk they were mowing through the guards with an efficiency that made him want to purr. It lasted for all of maybe a dobosh before Hunk swore, and Lance glanced over his shoulder to see his friend firing at the open door. And the sentries pouring through it.

Well, quiznack.

“Shiro, please-” Pidge grunted as a jab caught them in the shoulder, but didn’t cede any ground. Not that they had room to do so, what with the hostage kits huddled behind them. “Please say you’re en route.”

“Give me- two minutes.” Shiro panted, clearly pushing himself.

“I’m not sure we’ve got two minutes.” Lance said, shooting down a guard and sliding between the legs of another to pop up nearer the kits. One was clutching their arm and crying softly, but if a broken arm was the worst of their injuries then this mission was still going pretty good. Of course, as soon as he thought that everything went to shit.


	3. Chapter 3

Lance saw it happen as if in slow motion. What he’d assumed to be a cell wall dropped with a dark, familiar flicker of magic to reveal a figure clad in purple-red robes and a white riphor mask. The figure levelled a hand at Keith, still engaged with the officer. Black lightning arced from their fingers, streaking through the air towards Keith, his teammate, his friend, his _pack_ \- Lance was barely aware of his body moving, of the pressure in his throat as he screamed Keith’s name, of anything that wasn’t the threat crackling through the air towards the Red Paladin. The fight snapped back to real time as the lightning connected with Keith’s armour, and at the sound of Keith’s scream Lance. saw. **red**.

He roared with all his might and flung himself through the crowd, bayard raised high to attack the officer who dared raise a hand against one of his. He felt the gun shift in his hands, the hilt moulding itself close and familiar around his right, and with a single swing he brought the blue energy blade down through the officer’s arm where it was raised to strike a blow against Keith. Keith, who was lying on the ground convulsing, breathless sounds of pain escaping between gasping breaths, his eyes wide and unseeing. A snarl built in Lance’s chest as he turned back to the officer, the fingertips of his suit rending as his claws slid free. He was going to claw this bastard’s eyes out, rip him to shreds, make him regret every single decision that had led him to this moment. A large fist swung out at him, and Lance ducked just a fraction of a tick too slow to avoid when the officer pitched forward mid-swing. His helmet went clattering away, and Lance growled louder.

“Bad idea.” he said coldly, and threw himself at the officer again. He’d never been the best with a sword, but the officer was unarmed now. It was hardly a contest.

“How interesting.” a voice hissed as he hacked halfway through one of the officer’s knees, and Lance spun to see a robed figure leaning downover Keith. Dark crackles of magic laced between their fingers, and when they reached down Lance abandoned the fallen officer in a heartbeat.

“Don’t touch him!” he shouted, but the druid wasn’t there when he swung at them. He spun on his heel, falling into a guard stance over Keith as his best threatening growl rumbled deep in his chest and throat. That Imperial scum wouldn’t lay another _finger_ on his pack, not without going through him first.

“Or what?” the druid laughed as they reappeared, the eyes of their mask shining bright. “You’ll hit me?”

“I’ll do worse than that.” Lance stalked forwards, twirling his bayard in his hand. The druid laughed again and moved their hand, chanting a spell of protection. One he’d watched Mom and Salome put up at home time and again. One that he knew every last weakness of, from helping Salome study it. He flicked his free hand and drew on what little free quintessence he had, hissing the counter-spell. The druid’s shoulders stiffened, and Lance let out a low, dark chuckle. “Go ahead, try that again.” he hissed, curling his free hand so his claws were poised to draw blood. “I dare you.”

“Impossible.” the druid gasped, backing up as Lance continued advancing towards them.

“Not at all.” he grinned, and took a swing. His bayard cut through empty air, and he let out a snarl of frustration as he spun around, scanning for the druid. “Stop hiding!” he shouted, brandishing his bayard. “Face your punishment like a galra!”

A choked scream had Lance whirling around, and he couldn’t see their face but he _felt_ the druid’s shit-eating grin as they grabbed Keith around the neck. Magic flowed down their arm over his skin, and Lance howled in fury as red consumed his vision again. They had to die, had to **suffer** , he had to kill them and make it _hurt_ every tick of the way. The druid vanished again, and Lance reached inside himself. His free quintessence was gone, but that was far from the only castable quintessence in his body. The druid reappeared, and Lance threw everything he had ready into a curse. They deflected it with ease, and he growled at them. Time to fight _dirty_ , then. He could still sense the spider web of cracks on his quintessence core when he reached inside himself again, and they gave him an easy ‘grip’ on it. The core shredded before his willpower like wet tissue paper, and Lance gasped as pure, raw **power** surged through his veins. Another curse flew from his fingers, then another, and with each one he advanced further. Until one of his spells shot through nothingness where the druid should be, and they vanished. He let out a fresh snarl, summoned up raw quintessence into his fingertips, and hissed the incantation to create ice. It shot from his fingertips, coating the floor, and a yelp came from thin air as it began crawling up a pair of legs he couldn’t see.

“Coward.” he snarled, bayard humming hot in his hand as he strode across the ice to where the druid was frozen in place. A hissed spell dissolved their invisibility, and he used the end of his bayard to tip their chin up none-too-gently. Not wholly necessary, but now he was close enough to smell the fear on them, and it made his lips curl up in a vicious grin. “Reverse what you’ve done to him, and I’ll make your death quick.”

“I’ve done nothing.” the druid laughed, scratchy and unhinged. “Merely revealed his true self, but I should’ve done that to _you_ shouldn’t I?” they raised a hand, and Lance caught it with another hissed spell. The druid cried out as the blood in their veins froze almost to the elbow, and he pressed his bayard tigheter to their throat, green blood sizzling away on the glowing blue blade.

“I gave you a chance.” he growled, low and threatening. “Now, you die.”

“As my Prince commands.” the druid laughed, and Lance drew back to gather more magic in his hand. More and more, more than he’d ever pooled for a single spell before, until the glow broke through even his flight suit, enveloping his hand from wrist to claws.

“Die.” he hissed, and pushed the quintessence straight into the druid’s chest, claws sinking into their robes. The scream they made was utterly inhuman, as was the way it kept going and going, high and shrill like an alarm. “Oh, shut up.” he snapped, and a flick of his wrist severed their vocal cords. Also their airway, and cortical arteries, and a good chunk of everything forward of their spine. They collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, charred and smoking where they weren’t frozen, and Lance growled at their corpse. Their non-frozen fingers twitched and he struck hard and fast, driving his bayard through their neck to sever their spine. The growl died in his throat as he straightened up, breathing hard, and he curled his hands into fists to stop them shaking with the excess of energy still rushing through him. The haze was clearing from his head, now that the threat was taken care of, and Lance had to blink a few times before he realized that the galran officer’s blade sticking up out of the druid’s throat was actually his bayard. That- that was new.

He staggered sideways, trying not to look at the body on the floor, struggling to keep himself from hyperventilating. His hand found a pillar, and he leaned heavily on it as he fought the urge to hurl. It was just an enemy, a servant of the Empire. Not his mom, not his sister, not _Allura_. It was an enemy, he’d killed enemies before, agents of the Empire were all the same. Even when they wore the robes and mask his mother donned every Halloween back home, even when they could’ve been an older Salome the way their frame looked outlined under the heavy fabric of their robe. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed in heavily through his nose. Just an enemy. An enemy he’d killed to protect Keith.

Oh shit, Keith!


	4. Chapter 4

Lance pushed off the pillar and turned, his feet clumsy under him, and his stomach twisted so hard he was surprised he didn’t puke then and there. Pidge had Keith clutched up against their chest, skinny arms tight around his twitching frame, eyes wide behind their glasses and helmet visor. Shiro and Hunk stood in front of them, nearly blocking the arms of Voltron from Lance’s view, and when Keith let out a whimper of pain Lance made a wordless sound of distress and took an involuntary step forward. Shiro and Hunk shifted closer together, and a whine built in Lance’s throat as they moved to defensive stances, Hunk with his gun ready and Shiro with his arm alight. What hurt most though, beyond being kept from his packmate and being targeted by his friends, was the naked fear on all their faces. Not just his teammates’, but the kits’ as well.

“Stay back.” Shiro warned, waving his arm slightly to draw Lance’s attention to it. It no longer glowed purple, but the crystal blue glow that traced up his forearm was just as deadly. Just as intimidating to be on the other end of, which Lance had never thought he’d find out first-hand. Or, no, he had expected this hadn’t he? He stepped back, knocking his helmet with one heel as he lifted a hand to his head, a horrible realisation dawning on him. His claws retracted, and every bit of excess energy in his body turned to ice as the pads of his fingers met hard cranial plates.

Oh. Oh no.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’re going to tell me what the hell just happened.” Shiro said, his voice low and calm in a way that left no room for argument. “And then, you’re going to tell me what you did with Lance.”

“I didn’t do anything.” he said quickly, and Shiro’s arm glowed brighter. “Honest!” his voice cracked, and he winced at the higher pitch. “Shiro, please, I’m Lance.” he stooped to grab up his helmet, clutching it to he had something to do with his hands other than try to stop them from shaking.

“Lance is human.” Shiro said firmly, taking a step towards him. Lance stepped back, shifting his helmet to one hand so he could hold the other one open, palm out to his teammates in the universal signal of ‘please don’t shoot me’.

“I’m uh, actually not?” he chuckled weakly, and Hunk’s eyes narrowed. Shit, shit, angry Hunk was a shooty Hunk. “Honest! Hunk, bro, you know me.” he slid his helmet back on but left the visor deactivated, holding both empty hands out now. “Remember that code my sisters and I had? It wasn’t code at all, it was phonetic Galran.”

“Lance, is this really the best time?” Allura sighed, and the other three Paladins tensed.

“Princess, he’s lying.” Shiro said firmly.

“He’s really not.” Allura deadpanned. “Have you found the hostages?”

“Yeah, we- we’ve got ‘em.” Pidge’s voice shook slightly as they answered, and Lance could almost see the gears turning in their head. “Allura, if Lance isn’t human, then what does he look like?”

“Like-” Allura paused, and Lance cringed as he realized what she was figuring out. “Lance Calinor Garcia, _what did you do?_ ”

“Uh, burnt up my mom’s glamour to curse a druid?”

“If you’ve broken open your core again-”

“I had to protect Keith!” he felt the rage flare up again, but tamped it back down easily. Allura was pack, she was just worrying about him, she’d be worried about Keith too once she knew what had happened.

“I’m going to descale your head like a braxian nelkak!” she shouted, and he winced at the volume. Tellingly, all four of the other Paladins flinched as well. “Paladins, return to the castle at once with the children.” Allura ordered, her tone even, her words clipped and professional. “I need to make sure Lance doesn’t bleed his quintessence dry.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk’s bayard reverted to its inert form, and Lance groaned.

“I can do some of what Allura does, but there’s... side effects.” he explained carefully.

“Side effects like your, uh, head scales going white?” Hunk gestured at his forehead, and Lance blinked.

“They do that?”

“You didn’t know?” Hunk squinted at him suspiciously.

“Hey, I’ve done stuff on this scale all of once before, and that time my glamour was still on.” he said defensively. “Anyways, shouldn’t we be getting Keith back to the castle?”

“And the kids.” Pidge piped up.

“Right, right, yeah.” Lance nodded quickly. “Here, let me-” he stepped forward, reaching out, and Hunk shifted between him and Keith again.

“No way.” Shiro said firmly, and Lance whined.

“ _Shirooo_. He’s pack!”

Shiro blinked, frowning slightly, and Lance chanced another step forwards. “Shiro, please. It’ll take all three of you to keep these kits calm. I doubt they’ll trust me, I can take Keith while you three get the kits back to the castle.”

Shiro frowned at him a few ticks longer, then sighed heavily. “I hate how much sense that makes. Pidge.” he turned, and Pidge propped Keith up enough for Shiro to lift him. Lance hurried closer, and didn’t miss the way Shiro deliberately set Keith’s helmet to zero-atmosphere mode, sealing away any scent cues Lance could’ve gleaned. He started up his best comforting purr as Keith was deposited into his arms, holding the Red Paladin close to his chest. “Straight to Blue, straight back to the castle, and straight to Medical.” Shiro ordered. Lance nodded.

“Understood.”

The walk to the hangar they’d parked the Lions in felt like it took forever, Keith’s body tensing with every careless step and whimpers sliding out of his mouth as he trembled in pain. Lance gripped Keith as tight as he could, holding him as close as was physically possible with their armour on. He had to shift Keith to one arm to tap the operation panel on the hangar door, and Lance flinched when his touch made the panel erupt in sparks. The doors flew open, and he stumbled forwards as the difference in pressure pulled him into the hangar. Suddenly he was very glad that Shiro had activated zero-atmosphere mode on Keith’s helmet.

Blue crouched as he approached, her concern washing over him like cool, clear water as she opened her mouth to admit them. “We need to get back to the castle.” he told her, and felt her engines thrum to life through the soles of his boots as his own helmet snapped back from zero-atmosphere mode. He stopped short at the sight of the ladder, though. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to keep his injured packmate close, where Lance could protect him, but he couldn’t climb the ladder with Keith in his arms. Blue tugged at him, gentle but inexorable, like the tide. Like that day in the desert, so recent yet still it felt like a lifetime ago. Just like then, he let Blue pull him where she wanted, his feet taking him to the door of one of the little rooms on the entry level. Right, the bedroom for extended away missions. Also for camping out in when they’d been trying to deepen their Lion bonds back at the start, that had been a fun week. The door opened with a pulse of concern and affection from Blue, and Lance carried Keith straight to the bed. It was still a mess, but he doubted Keith would care even if he wasn’t preoccupied with the pain of whatever that druid had done to him.

“Hey, hey.” Lance murmured in Galran, his fingers finding the manual deactivation for Keith’s helmet so he could pull it off so he could stroke his packmate’s cheek. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re safe. We’re getting you home so ‘Lura can help you.”

“Hurts.” Keith whimpered, and Lance had to bite back a whine at how _young_ he sounded. Also his accent was atrocious, but he could make fun of that later.

“I know, I know.” he soothed, leaning in to nuzzle Keith’s cheek. “I have to leave now, but I’ll be _right_ back.” he promised, giving Keith’s hand a squeeze.

It almost physically hurt, hearing how Keith whined as he backed away, but Lance just gritted his teeth and pushed himself forwards toward the cockpit. The pilot’s chair was waiting at the top of the ladder, and it snapped forward along its track almost before he’d finished vaulting into it. Blue’s controls leapt into his hands, and he pushed her forward out of the hangar. They wove between disabled fighters, but Lance felt none of his usual joy at the tight turns and controlled barrel rolls. All that mattered was cutting the shortest route from the battleship back to the castle, getting Keith medical assistance as soon as possible.

He put Blue on autopilot as soon as they were close enough to the castle for her to land herself, and very nearly _ran_ back to Keith. The Red Paladin whined slightly when Lance scooped him up, head turning to press against the stiff blue fabric of his pauldron, and Lance held him closer as he headed for Blue’s airlock. “Don’t worry, Keith.” he murmured as he passed the ladder. “I’m not losing you today.”


	5. Chapter 5

Keith whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut tighter when the airlock opened, and Lance absently shushed him as he strode down the ramp. Allura was already there, striding over from the edge of the landing pad, and her annoyed expression quickly turned to horror as she came close.

“What happened?” she asked, already spinning up a ball of glowing blue between her palms.

“I don’t know.” Lance admitted, looking down at Keith. “There was a druid, they threw a spell at Keith and he collapsed and-” his cheeks warmed in shame at the memory, so new but already hazy. “I went into a rage.” he admitted.

“I’m not surprised.” Allura pressed the ball of light into Keith’s chest, and his eyes flew open as he gasped in a breath. His beautiful purple eyes, now set in liquid gold instead of plain white. Lance gasped. He was pretty sure Allura did too, but she didn’t hesitate. “ _Quiznack_.” she snarled, the pink of her eye marks flaring out to colour her whole face for a heartbeat before she composed herself and released the shift. “The druid activated his Change, that’s why his quintessence is running so low.”

“We just have to put him in a pod, right?” Lance’s claws scraped on Keith’s armour as he gripped his packmate tighter, hoping beyond hope that the answer would be yes.

Allura shook her head. “The pods are designed to return a body to its natural state. It would do him more harm than good, now.”

“Then what do we do?” Lance asked, holding Keith tight enough the Red Paladin whimpered in his arms.

“We supply him the quintessence he needs.” Allura said grimly. “That dose I gave him should last half a tock, we need to get him to a bed before it runs out.”

“Medical, or his room?” Lance asked, and Allura looked from his face down to where Keith was curled against him, letting out weak, pathetic whimpers.

“His room.” Allura decided. “I’ll inform the others as soon as he’s stable and your core’s patched up.”

Lance started after her, frowning as an idea built in his head. “What if... you went to tell them before patching my core?” he asked as they approached Keith’s door a few doboshes later.

“No.”

“’Lura, hear me out.” Lance kept going. “He has too little quintessence, I have too _much_. Let me give the excess to him, and you can patch me up after. Like how I put my excess energy into the castle last time.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“And what are you going to do?” Lance snapped, stopping in the hall as Allura walked into Keith’s room. “You only have so much quintessence to give, Allura. What if he needs more?”

“Lance, you should know better.” Allura spun to face him, pink bleeding out from her marks to cover her skin as her hands curled into fists. “If your core remains untreated you will _die_. If you try to give your excess quintessence to Keith improperly, _he_ will die.”

“‘Lura, I-”

“I am not losing two of my Paladins!” she shouted, lashing out to grab him by the collar fairing and drag him into the room.

“I’m not losing one of my pack.” he said, keeping his voice low but firm as he met her eyes. “Reprimand me later, have Shiro give me extra training or chores, I don’t care.” his hands tightened around Keith’s arm and leg, claws screeching against the white armour. “I’m not losing him, ‘Lura.”

She held his gaze for a few very long ticks, then sighed heavily and released his collar. “Lay him on the bed. I’ll show you how to give your quintessence without causing pain.”

“Thank you.” he leaned in, resting his temple against hers as brown faded back into her face and hands. Keith whimpered, a soft and broken sound, and Lance hurried over to the bed to lay him down gently, feet first. He settled with Keith’s head in his lap, and Allura rolled her eyes but said nothing as she crouched to remove both their helmets.

“This would work best with skin to skin contact, but he hasn’t that much time.” she said softly, taking his hands and splaying his fingers on Keith’s head, framing his face from eyebrows down to his chin. “Now, offer him your quintessence.”

“But-”

“Do it, Lance.” Allura glared at him, but it was only a tick before her gaze softened. “Reach out to him, and let him reach back.”

Lance bit at his lower lip, but nodded and shut his eyes to focus. He could sense Keith’s quintessence, like embers of a fire, and reached out to that flickering blaze with his own energy. The sensation when they touched was... intense. There was no other word to describe it, not in any language he knew, but he held Keith’s face tighter and didn’t fight it when he felt his energy being siphoned off. It was slow at first, barely enough to keep Keith’s light flickering, but Allura’s hands brushed over his own, her fingers slotting between his, and the light in Keith leapt like a flame introduced to fresh fuel.

“He’s accepted your energy.” Allura murmured, sounding very distant. “Now let him draw from you, trust in your bond.”

Trust? Lance’s eyelids fluttered, not quite opening as his brow furrowed in confusion. Allura’s energy brushed against his again, reaching out far more deliberately than Keith’s desperate instinctual grab, and Lance wasn’t sure if he made a sound but his mouth fell open as he reached back to Allura and felt her draw so much more than Keith. It pulsed right back out through her other hand a moment later, feeding the brilliant little flame of Keith’s quintessence core, and Lance nodded as he refocused on his own energy. It was strange, he’d never lost quintessence without actively pushing it from his body, but as he forcibly relaxed the boundaries of his power he felt Keith drawing from him faster and faster.

Keith made a pained sound, and Allura shushed him softly. “It’s okay.” she whispered, and Lance felt her hand brush his as she pushed Keith’s hair back from his forehead. “It’s okay, we’ve got you.”

“Hurts.” Keith gasped, still in Galran Standard, and the break in his voice broke Lance’s heart but at least he had the energy to speak now. That was good, right?

“I know.” Allura acknowledged in Galran Standard as she stroked his hair, her tone so like the one Lance remembered from after sparring lessons. “It’s okay, Lance has you.”

“You’re safe.” Lance murmured, and his voice sounded so far away, farther than Allura’s and Keith’s, like it didn’t even belong to him. “You’re safe, Keith. I’ve got you.” Allura’s hands pulled away, and Lance leaned into her touch as she ran her fingertips down the side of his face.

“Call me when his Change is complete, and I’ll come to seal your core.” she said, her volume low but tone firm. He nodded once, and faintly heard the sound of Allura’s footsteps retreating, the door opening and shutting behind her to leave them alone together.

“I’ve got you, Keith.” he murmured again, and forcibly relaxed his shoulders. He had a feeling he was going to be here a while.


	6. Chapter 6

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, lost in the waxing and waning flow of his quintessence into Keith, but it felt like a small eternity had passed when he opened his eyes again. The face under his hands was still the one he remembered, but the hair around it was almost half again as long, most of the new growth so dark a purple it edged on black but from the bottom of his ears down it took on a more reddish tint. Unsurprising, when Lance thought back to what Mrs. Kogane had looked like. His ears, though, looked very little like his mother’s, pointed outwards with a coating of soft fuzz the same shade of purple as his skin. Probably something from one of his galran grandparents? One of them twitched, and Lance couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. Keith in purple was _cute_.

He glanced down along the Red Paladin’s body, noting how the flight suit had gained small points around the fingertips to accommodate his claws. Huh, his must’ve done that too when he wasn’t paying attention. The walk across the hangar to Blue would’ve been a lot more uncomfortable, otherwise. But that was neither here nor there, what mattered was that Keith’s flight suit had adjusted to his growing claws, as well as him just plain _growing_. If Lance wasn’t mistaken, Keith had actually grown a few inches!

He looked Keith over again, and exhaled heavily as he lifted his hands from the Red Paladin’s face. He was nearly done with his Change, all but completely unless he was going to shoot up another foot or two, and with the amount of quintessence Lance had dumped into him he would at the very least have long enough for Allura to get here and handle the rest. Lance made to stand, but before he could lift himself even enough to shift over and set Keith’s head down his legs gave out under him. His hands, when he looked down at them, were shaking. Okay, maybe Allura’d had a point about this whole broken core thing being dangerous. He reached over to grab his helmet, slipped it on, and tapped the side to bring up his comms screen.

“Hey, ‘Lura?” his voice came out weird and raspy, and he coughed to clear his throat.

“Lance! Is Keith-?”

“Stable, I think.” he said, and coughed again. “I’m ready for that core thing. And uh, maybe a hydro-pack?”

“Excellent. I’ll be there in a few doboshes.” Allura closed the call, and once he’d taken his helmet back off Lance slumped forwards with a groan. He felt weird. _Really_ weird. Not jittery and overflowing with energy, but not drained like he’d felt after dumping his energy into the castle last time he had to rend open his core.

“Lance?”

He startled at Allura’s voice, head snapping up, and found his sister smiling down at him foundly. “Oh, hey.” he said lamely, and she held out a hydro-pack which he took gratefully and started sucking down with gusto.

“Is he taller?” Allura asked, and Lance groaned.

“I hoped I was misjudging.” he complained, earning a giggle.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll grow some with your Change.” she assured him, producing a small fabric pouch and holding it out to him. “Here, Coran suggested you could put your extra quintessence in these this time.”

Lance took the bag cautiously, and after a tick of consideration set it on Keith’s chestplate. It clinked softly, and when he opened it he saw why. It was full of spent balmeran crystals, quite possibly fragments of the one that had exploded a few days after they beat up Sendak he first time, and when he picked one up it looked sorta dark and smokey. “What, is he trying to get me to make batteries or something?” he asked, and Allura rolled her eyes.

“They’re a casting aid.” she said, her hand coming up to touch just under her collarbone. A strange look stole across her face for a moment, then she dropped her hand and came to sit next to him, plucking the crystal from his fingers. “A crystal this size, if held or otherwise kept close to a person’s body, could power two or three spells easily.”

“Oh!” Lance’s eyes widened, and he reached in to grab a handful of the crystal shards. “Thanks, ‘Lura!”

“Thank Coran.” she chuckled, tossing the shard in her hand back into the bag. “But first, let’s get as much of that energy into these as you have.”

“As much as will fit, you mean.” Lance flashed her his best roguish grin, and pressed his hands together around the handful of crystals. Pushing his quintessence into them was a matter of ticks, and a few handfuls later the bag was empty and he felt a _lot_ more tired. Allura touched his cheek gently, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re _still_ not drained?”

“I can dump the rest into the castle, if you need my core run dry before you patch it up.” he offered, and Allura shook her head.

“Last time you just, had too much energy to safely contain.” she explained, moving to kneel behind him and undo his cuirass. “This time, you’re running a bit higher than I’d expect of a trained druid, but as you are not fully altean nor galran you’ll probably be fine.” she pulled his armour off, and he let his shoulders slump as she pressed her palms to his shoulder blades.

“So if I get energy-sick it’s your fault?” he teased. Allura whacked him on the back of the head.

“You’re not catching quintessence-sickness.” she said, like an order or a warning.

“What, you won’t allow it?”

“No.” Allura sniffed haughtily, and Lance shivered as he felt the cool fingers of her magic picking around the jagged tear in his core. “And besides, you’ve not enough quintessence in your body to make you ill anymore.”

Lance couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so he just looked down at Keith and carded his fingers through his newly longer hair. It looked good. Still a little silly, being longer in the back, but it was too long in the front now to be passed off as a mullet. He’d have to make sure he kept Keith from cutting it back into that same stupid style again, it was an embarrassment to the team, not to mention their species.

“I didn’t expect his hair to be two-toned.” Allura remarked, and Lance shrugged.

“He gets it from his mom, though hers is brighter.”

“Huh.”

They lapsed back into silence for another few dobashes, Lance carefully finger-combing Keith’s hair while Allura patched him up, and when Allura lifted her hands he rolled his shoulders and prodded at his core with a bit of magic. As sturdy and impermeable as ever.

“Could you _please_ let it fully heal this time?” Allura asked, shuffling over to sit on the edge of the bed next to him.

“I don’t regret doing it.” he said softly, and felt more than saw the sharp look Allura gave him. “The druid, she- she would’ve killed him. She almost _did_ kill him and I couldn’t-” Allura slung an arm around his shoulders without warning and pulled him close, wrapping her other arm around his waist once he was leaned against her shoulder.

“I am glad that you did what you had to.” she whispered as he raised his arms to curl around her back in a gentle embrace. “I am glad that you saved Keith, that I did not lose a Paladin today.” she pulled back, and Lance’s stomach twisted at the sight of tears budding in Allura’s eyes. “But please, _please_ promise me that I do not have to worry about losing my brother to his own stupidity.”

Lance opened his mouth to object, but closed it after a tick without saying anything and nodded instead. “I’ll let it heal.” he promised, letting his hands trail down Allura’s arms to grasp her hands. “I can’t promise I won’t have to crack my core again in the future, but I won’t open it again until it’s fully healed from this.”

“Thank you, Lance.” Allura freed one of her hands to smudge away the tears trying to brim over from her eyes.

“Unless one of my pack’s life is at stake.” he reminded her, and she nodded. The Paladins may not understand, may never know just what it meant that he called them pack and not clade, but Allura understood. He couldn’t let one of them die any more than he could stand by and watch her or one of his sisters back home get hurt.

“I’ll tell the other Paladins to expect both of you for debrief in the next... two vargas?”

Lance nodded, and Allura stood as she wiped away the last of her tears. Two vargas. He could get himself together enough to tell the others the truth in two vargas. Probably.


	7. Chapter 7

A little over three tocks later, Lance was pulled from his thoughts by a small, groggy sound. He glanced down, hand stilling in its absent petting of Keith’s hair, and sighed in relief as Keith’s eyes fluttered open. “Have a nice nap?” he teased in Galran Standard, and in the next heartbeat Keith was on his feet, fists up defensively, ears back in what was either aggression or fear. Lance couldn’t quite tell, with how his eyes were watering from the brutal punch Keith had just delivered to his nose. “Ow!” one of his hands shot up to grip his nose, which thankfully didn’t feel broken. “What the _fuck_ , Mullet?”

“Lance?” Keith blinked, lowering his fists as his ears relaxed out from where they’d been laid nearly flat against his head.

“Who else would I be?” he asked, gesturing at his armour with the hand not pinching his nose. “Damn, you’ve got a good right hook for a lefty.” he pinched a little lower, and hissed at the burst of pain. He was so hopping in a cryopod for this, after debrief.

“Why are you purple?” Keith frowned, the already cute expression only made cuter by the way his ears wiggled.

“Long story.” Lance groaned, grabbing his helmet as he pushed himself up to his feet. He felt, well, a _little_ better than he had after the first time Allura patched up his core, but not by much. The exhaustion was purely physical this time, not mental, so it was even odds whether or not he’d be sleeping properly tonight. He staggered a few steps, paused, and groaned again. “Quiznack. I’ll tell you with everyone else at debrief.”

“How long has it been?” Keith asked, scooping up his helmet as he followed Lance to the door.

“Uhh, a few vargas?” he hedged, sliding his own helmet on as they set off down the hall. “I hauled your ass back here as soon as the druid went down, then Allura had me playing life support so your dumb ass didn’t run out of quintessence and die.”

“My-” Keith stopped short, and Lance didn’t even have to look to know the irritated face he was making. “How is any of this my fault!”

“Idunno, maybe the part where you picked a fight without readily available backup?” Lance snarked back, irritation bubbling back up under his skin. “You could’ve died, Keith.”

“Well, I didn’t-”

“Because I saved your dumb ass!” Lance spun on his heel, claws flexing out as he curled his hands into fists. “Next time the druid might have tricks I don’t know how to counter, or spells that do more than force you to go through your Change at fucktouple speed.”

“That’s not a number.”

“And?” Lance took a step closer to Keith, grabbing him by the bottom of his breastplate. “Don’t fight druids alone, you idiot.” he opened his mouth to say more, but found no words left to spit out in anger. Exhaling heavily, he released Keith’s armour and stepped back. “Please, I don’t want to lose you.” he glanced up, and a tick later heat flashed through his cheeks as he realized what he’d just said. “And that goes for the rest of the Paladins too, obviously! And ‘Lura! I don’t wanna lose _any_ of you to stupid shit like what you did today.”

Keith snorted, and a small grin curled across his face. “Alright, I’ll keep a better eye on the odds.” he lifted a hand to tuck a lock of hair behind his ear, and Lance swallowed a growl at the contemplative look on his face.

“You’re not getting your mullet back, by the way.” he said as he turned around to keep leading Keith towards the rest of their team.

“You say that like you could stop me.” Keith taunted. Lance rolled his eyes.

“I will hide every pair of scissors on this ship if that’s what it takes to keep you from sporting that travesty of a hairstyle again.”

Keith chuckled, and Lance smiled slightly as they headed for the common room in companionable silence. Now all he had to do was explain to the rest of the team why he looked so much like Father, without actually telling them the truth. Keith was half galra too, so the whole purple thing shouldn’t be a problem, but the cranial scales, the dark stripe down his nose, the unusual shape of his mouth... if Keith’s reaction was any indication, those were going to be a problem.

\---

“Alright.” Shiro took his seat at the end of the small table, kneeling like it was second nature even in his armour. “For sake of brevity, I’ll summarise what we went over at our debrief earlier and then we can hear from Keith and Lance. Allura, could you make sure they get a copy of the recording to review?”

“Easily.” Allura nodded where she was sat at the other end of the low table, her knees folded sideways and feet tucked in close. Lance resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“So, the mission was by and large a success.” Shiro folded his hands on the table in front of him, his gaze sweeping over them all. “We disabled the battleships quickly and efficiently, everyone did well in canvassing the ship for prisoners, and the castle did an excellent job providing cover fire. Hunk located a data terminal and downloaded a fair bit of information for Pidge’s programs to sort through, and all the ziiran children have been returned to their homeworld.”

“To the right countries, no less.” Pidge grinned in that self-satisfied way they had.

Shiro nodded in acknowledgement, and fixed his gaze on Lance and Keith. “The ziirans have agreed to discuss our request, and will be contacting us within the movement to either provide an answer or negotiate terms. We have reason to believe they’ll want to know the state of our... internal affair, before they commit to the Coalition.”

Lance stifled the urge to wince. One of the team costing the Coalition a potential ally was something that had happened a few times, and though there was no punishment per-sé it was never a good feeling.

“I’m guessing we’re the internal affair?” Keith asked drily.

“More Lance, but yes.” Shiro nodded. “We told them that we were handling it internally, so. Lance, would you like to explain what happened on today’s mission?” his voice took on a sharp edge, making it perfectly clear that this was an order not a request, and Lance bowed his head.

“I’m sure Pidge was able to report on my actions in the disabling of our target battleship, and Shiro you were with me for the first bit of the search part of our search and rescue.” he said, keeping his head down save for glances at Pidge and Shiro as he addressed them. Each nodded in agreement. “After we split up, I spent a few doboshes checking cells before you found half of the kits. There were no sentries or live soldiers, it was really weird. Then Keith said he found the rest, and...” he looked over at Keith, who flushed an interesting reddish purple. Huh, neat.

“And you encouraged him to engage.” Shiro said, his voice soft and heavy with warning.

“I advised him on strategy.” Lance corrected. “I didn’t think he would attack before we had people waiting outside the door.”

“Yeah, that’s my bad.” Keith admitted, shoulders slumping.

“You’ll have your turn to explain, Keith.” Shiro said firmly. “Lance, would you care to explain how you reached Keith’s location multiple minutes before I did?”

“I’m not human.” he said simply. “I’m half-galra, I can move far faster than any of you save maybe Keith.” he chanced a glance at Keith, and a small smile. It would be nice to not hold back anymore, competing with a fellow halfie.

“And how do we know that you aren’t a druid plant?” Shiro spread his palms on the table, leaning forward with a grave expression.

“Because the castle’s cryopod records corroborate his story.” Allura answered, and Lance gave her a brilliant smile. “I’m sure that if the ship scanned you on entry then those scans will also show he’s half galra.”

“And the other half?” Hunk asked, eyes shining with curiosity. Lance gritted his teeth and exhaled sharply through his nose. They weren’t asking about why he looked like their worst enemy, but somehow this was worse.

“Altean.” he forced out, hands curling into fists against his thighs. Now that it was out, now that they knew, there was no denying it. Half altean. He still didn’t understand how Father could’ve allowed that to happen, how he could’ve had an heir engineered whose mother was from the lowest possible caste in the Empire, a species considered little more than chattle.

“Can you shapeshift?” Pidge asked, eyes bright as they leaned over the table, their weight on their hands. “Is that how you looked human?”

“No.” Lance shook his head. “I can’t shapeshift, I didn’t even know I was part altean until ‘Lura showed me the cryopod readouts.”

“So how did you pass for human at the Garrison?” Shiro asked, looking more confused than upset, which was an improvement.

“Magic. My mother is a druid, she fled the Empire when I was young and took myself and my siblings with. The glamour let us live on Earth in peace, away from the Empire.” he ducked his head again, and worked to swallow the growl building in his throat. “We were supposed to be safe there, the Empire wasn’t supposed to touch us.”

Keith’s hand landed on his wrist, and Lance squeezed his eyes shut as he drew a deep breath. Even after phoebs in space, it still stung a little. He wouldn’t trade Blue for anything, but knowing that his family might be in danger if that ship had time to send out a distress signal...

“So if this glamour lasted for so long on Earth, why did it fail today?” Shiro asked, and Lance kept his head down, eyes on where Keith’s hand rested on his wrist, edging down towards the back of his fist.

“It’s been weakening.” he admitted after a few long ticks. “The glamour was never meant to go more than six months without a refresher, and today when that druid hurt Keith I-” he inhaled and then exhaled again, trying to ground himself. “I learnt druid magic from my mother, but I have to take... extreme steps, in order to use it properly. I used up the last magic of the glamour first.”

“So then, that thing your bayard did...”

Lance looked up, frowning at Hunk. “What thing?”

“Lance, your bayard turned into a sword.” Shiro said slowly, giving him a suspicious look.

“Oh, really?”

“Lance.” Pidge said his name softly, and his stomach dropped. “It looked like the swords galra use.”

“Well, I am galran.” he replied automatically, then lifted his free hand to smack himself. “Ugh. Sorry, reflex.”

“From what?” Hunk’s nose wrinkled in confusion.

“Home.” he answered, and looked back to Shiro. “I don’t remember most of the fight.” he admitted freely. “I entered something called a Rage, and-”

“Wait, a Rage?” Keith’s eyebrows rose as he looked Lance up and down. “Like, capital R, alpha and-”

“It applies to packmates too.” Lance cut in quickly, and Keith laughed.

“I can’t believe _you’re_ an alpha.”

“Hey, just because my tertiaries haven’t come in yet doesn’t mean I’m not presented!” he pulled his hand out from under Keith’s and shoved the Red Paladin, cheeks burning at the flash of newly pointed teeth. Lucky bastard.

“Tertiaries?” Pidge asked.  
“Alpha?” Shiro asked at the same time, looking skeptical now.

Lance grimaced, and Shiro waved a hand as he shook his head. “We’re getting off-topic. So, you attacked the druid and then what, you don’t remember anything else?”

“No, I remember bit and pieces.” Lance corrected. “Most of it’s hazy, but I remember-” he shivered, and Keith’s hand found his arm again. “I remember the druid made Keith scream, twice, and after the second time...”

“Alright.” Shiro held up a hand to silence him. “Let me see if I have this straight. You’ve been galran this whole time, you chose _not_ to divulge this when we were at Mrs. Kogane’s, and the only reason we found out today was because Keith was injured and you lost control? How long were you planning to keep this from us, Lance?”

Aaand there was the disappointment. Somehow Shiro made it hurt worse than any physical blow. “Within the movement.” he answered honestly. “The glamour would’ve been out by phoeb’s end regardless.”

“And this, Rage thing.”

“I can’t be a danger to you, if that’s what you want to know.” he cracked a small smile, gaze sweeping over the others around the table. Human, altean, fellow halfbreed, and he wouldn’t have them any other way. “You guys are my pack.”

“Aww.” Keith grinned at him, sharp-toothed and promising future mischief. “Sap.”

Lance punched him in the shoulder.

“Alright.” Shiro said, trying to look stern and not quite managing it, what with the way his mouth quirked up slightly at one corner. “Internal affair officially handled.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Lance sat up straighter, eyes wide as he looked to Shiro. “No- no shock and betrayal? No punishment?”

“Well, Allura spoke up for you while you were healing Keith, and you did defend him pretty rabidly while enraged.” Shiro gave him a smile, the fond one he usually reserved for when he sat back and watched the rest of them goof off. “Plus tomorrow you’ll be going through _all_ the basic physical tests again so we can establish your _actual_ baseline, so I figure you don’t need any further punishment.”

Lance let his head hang back with a dramatic groan, but he didn’t fight the smile that curled his mouth at his teammates’, his _pack’s_ laughter. That had gone so much better than he’d expected. So long as nobody knew just who his father was, everything would still be okay.


End file.
